Bigger Breaking News

[ALICIA]

I can not help but think this is very bad for us. We are back to square one. To many cattle and now back to square one. but worse. What is Jappan going to do now.
Test is being sent to England to make sure. Sounds like same story just different country.
I hope the hay lasts, or their is going to be some big holes that are going to be filled.
Terrorist attack, I think so, wait better way than the food supply. Agriculture is the only think not protected, by the goverments, we are not big industrys etc. We just feed the people.

[rusty1]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 23, 2003
U.S. CHRISTMAS CANCELLED DUE TO LIVESTOCK BORDER MEASURES

SASKATOON, Sask.-There will be no Christmas for U.S. children this year because that country's border is closed to Canadian livestock. Reindeer are ruminants and Santa's North Pole workshop is in Canadian territory. Officials confirm that reindeer are included in a border closure triggered when one Canadian cow tested positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).

The problem will not be solved soon. The U.S. says it may relax restrictions in 2004 and allow live cattle and other ruminants that are less than 30 months of age to cross its border. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen, however, were all born in 1822. Even Rudolph, a relatively young reindeer, was born in 1939. There is little chance that the U.S. border will be opened soon to these older animals.

In a statement from the Pole, a spokesman for Santa Claus regretted that U.S. children will suffer. He noted, however, that there will be pain on the Canadian side of the border as well because the BSE-triggered border closure has effectively cancelled Christmas for thousands of farm families who raise cattle, sheep, buffalo, and other ruminant livestock.

Claus has tried to gain an exemption from U.S. officials on grounds that no one would be eating the reindeer. Claus also confirmed that none of the reindeer had been fed bone-meal or animal byproducts. American officials refused to grant special permission, however, citing time that the reindeer had spent in England on their gift-delivery rounds. The U.S. officials suggested Claus find alternative draft animals such as pigs, which are not currently covered by the U.S. ban. Citing well-known problems with flying pigs, Claus ruled out that solution.

Canadian sources who refuse to be named revealed that this situation raises other trade issues. The U.S. is currently pressuring Canada to relax import restrictions on U.S. cattle imposed on account of "blue tongue." The Americans have hinted that if we don't play ball regarding blue tongue they will retaliate by closing the border on account of "red nose." "The happiness of thousands of American children in foggy cities is threatened by the discovery of this single case of red nose," said a Canadian official.

Monsanto, on the other hand, claiming that red nose is not a disease but an important adaptation that should be genetically-engineered into all livestock for safety reasons, has reportedly patented the red nose gene and is hinting at legal action to protect its intellectual property. Santa Claus is talking with Percy Schmeiser's lawyer. Monsanto has not indicated if it has isolated the flying gene or if future reindeer would be Roundup resistant.

Despite all the trouble, Claus says that he is now resigned to the U.S. situation. "It's probably for the best", concluded Claus, "with the U.S. terror alert at orange, anyone flying around, landing on rooftops, and entering thousands of houses in the night would probably end up spending the new year at Guantanamo Bay."

WENDY R. HOLM, P.AG. THE HOLM TEAM

[ALICIA]

How long did it take you to type that out. I hope your not the one finger type.

[cakadu]

"What happens now" is the question likely on many people's minds. I for one am going to be interested to see where this goes in the coming days.
I'm also looking forward to seeing the various opinions on the subject come up on this site. I may not agree with them all, but I can certainly understand where the sentiments for these opinions are coming from. Upon hearing the news, I too couldn't help but wonder how the Americans were going to react now that the shoe is on the other foot and that may very well have been the reaction of a good number of people.

I don't think there are any of us that want to see the situation deteriorate any worse than it has.

Let's hope that in this instance, science will prevail and we don't see things taking place that are based not on science and logic but "payback".
There is likely to be a great deal of uncertainty in the coming days on both sides of the border. Already borders are being closed to American beef.

From this though - comes much to think about. One point raised so far is what happens with all of our beef and how do we potentially deal with producing solely for our own domestic use? I've been wondering for some time now why (pre-May 20th) we in Alberta were told that we needed to increase the beef herd by 20% without any resulting increase in markets for this beef to go to.

How will Country of Origin labelling be affected now? What about country's like Brazil who have had time to clean up the foot and mouth - what will those implications be?

What about sending downer cows for processing - should it be stopped at least as far as human consumption goes?

What about the whole issue of feeding rendered animal parts? What is the American situation like in terms of feed regulations? How good is their traceback system? What will the Americans have learned from our troubles?

Should this come back as a confirmed case of BSE - should the border be closed until they can ensure that it is one isolated case?

Sadly, all we can do is wait over the coming days to see what happens. What are your thoughts?

Merry Christmas

[cowman]

I believe now is the time to take the high road. Offer them our help and show them how a "civilized" nation reacts to anothers misfortune. Show them that yes we are their friends despite how badly they treated us. Why who knows what might happen? They might even realize that American greed isn't all that makes the world go around? And that those dumb peasants to the north are better people than they are!

[rusty1]

Like I tried to say in an earlier note. It's time we do a risk analysis, used some common sence and remove this disease from the lofty elevated position that it hold. It is NOT a human health risk of the magnitude that it has been given. So come up with something else that you want to make a crisis out of.

[boone]

It will be interesting to see if the U.S. farmer is supported by their ATKINS diet friends as well as Canadian farmers have been. Oprah better have an information meeting and get the masses in tune. rusty1, it seems your comments here are quite plausible, but I question whether it is the right time for a "Subordinate Claus". cowman I agree with everything you say here but I have a question. Your last name isn't Vanclief is it?lol

[cowman]

The Americans have now been shut out of the lucrative Japanese and Asian markets. I don't believe any amount of bullying will get those open. Japan has stated very clearly what they need...every animal tested. They do it with their own animals so why should they take anything that isn't tested?
And quite frankly I'm with the Japanese on this one! Personally I don't want to catch Mad Cow disease and become some kind of doddering idiot(Don't go there!)!
Get a cheap test and do everything. Then the Japanese consumer(as well as Canadian/American consumer) can be assured that they are eating the safest product available. Forget "science"! The customer is ALWAYS right...and if you don't believe that then get out of the business because the customer does not need you. He has options!

[rsomer]

cakadu: you asked "Should this come back as a confirmed case of BSE - should the border be closed until they can ensure that it is one isolated case? " Yes, I think the Canadian border will be closed to U.S. cattle once the test is confirmed in Britain. That is a correct response. However, based on our experience and the proposed OIE guidelines for BSE I would say the border should be reopened to U.S. beef as soon as possible. Other countries of the world should reopen their borders too.
Hopefully the world has learned from our experience. Isolated cases of BSE will occur but that does not mean we have a situation like Britain. Canada and its NAFTA trading partners took steps years ago to ban the feeding of ruminant protein which is thought to be the method that BSE is spread from animal to animal. Japan and other European countries did not take the same steps to prevent the spread of BSE. Their situation is different.
I foresee the U.S. will be required to remove the SREs like we are now. The country will move quickly towards a identification system like Canada has only it will be based on RFI rather than barcodes. The U.S. will effectively use its political influence to move the world to a more reasonable response to BSE and international trade in beef. I have always questioned whether country of origin labeling will ever happen but this event should provide ammunition to those sectors of the U.S. industry that were not in favour of COOL.
The most important question is what will the U.S. consumer’s reaction be. The U.S. chose to point the finger at Canada and say our beef needs to be kept out of the country in order to protect U.S. consumers. Now what are American consumers to think? I think the U.S. will regret that they did not move much faster to reopen trade to Canadian beef. The U.S. cannot necessarily expect the same consumer support that we enjoyed in Canada.
I for one have no joy that the U.S. has found a BSE cow. It is bad for them and it is bad for us. I think the U.S. reaction to our single case of BSE was wrong in that the border remained closed even after it was confirmed that our situation was an isolated case. The U.S. and the world’s response became political. Lets hope that doesn’t happen this time. I expect Canada’s response to the U.S. situation will based on science. And of course there is a slim chance the cow came from Canada.

[Muttley]

Mark my words here people!!!

The Americains will determine that their mad cow has links to Canada.